Skyrim - The Two Unexplained Dragons - Elder Scrolls Lore

In our latest Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim video we take you through two unexplained dragons.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an open world action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth main installment in The Elder Scrolls series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 11, 2011.

The game's main story revolves around the player character and their quest to defeat Alduin the World-Eater, a dragon who is prophesied to destroy the world. The videogame is set two hundred years after the events of Oblivion, and takes place in the fictional province of Skyrim. Over the course of the game, the player completes quests and develops the character by improving skills. The game continues the open world tradition of its predecessors by allowing the player to travel anywhere in the game world at any time, and to ignore or postpone the main storyline indefinitely.

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Interesting that while Paarthurnax lives at the highest point of the world, Vulthuryol lives at the deepest.

MosquitoHunter

Maybe the skeletal dragon is the physical remains of durnehviir, still tenuously connected through necromancy, despite his soul being trapped in the soul cairn.

The Fetch Prince

Me: "Spoilers for Skyrim? Dude, the games been out for 6 years." Also me: WHAT I HAD NO IDEA

MyNameIsBucket

Never mind the dragon... how the hell did the giant get into Blackreach? Giants don't live for thousands of years so he had to get down there relatively recently.

FGS 9808

The blackreach dragon almost killed me, but then a blackreach giant came and fought it out of no where. After the giant killed the dragon, I made it chase me up the stairs, where I shouted him off to his death.

Connor Tyler

The Blackreach dragon is an Easter Egg; he's a reference to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, specifically the dragon Smaug. He's an ancient dragon, ruling over a ruined city of dwarves located under a mountain. His name is also supposed to be a reference, but I can't quite recall the symbolism. One of the developers confirmed it ages ago.

Loganoni Fagatroni

What about the two iccccy boys in forgotten vale

ShadexBlitz

So, it's nothing extreme, but I came up with a theory. Vulthuryol simply made a deal with the dweamer to protect against potentially invading nords. That's why he only appears via a shout, and a shout that every nord tongue seems to know. He promised to protect blackreach should nords arrive, and the dwemer kept him comfortable.

They Told Me I Could Become Anything, So I became an Eggplant

What about the Twin Dragons near Auriel's Shrine that pops out of the frozen lake to do battle with the Dragonborn?

Shit Nukes

I noticed, for the most part, each dragon's name is comprised of 3 syllables.Took me 5 years to realise that Dovahkiin is also included.

Lucille Francois

Forgotten Vale ice breaking flashbacks

Joseph Stalin

You seen those warriors from Hammerfell?

Maximus Wrather

You just gave me a great mental picture a dragon tiptoeing over dwemer traps😂

HyperNutFist

Fun fact, the text on the eye of Magnus are in the same alphabet as the text on the elder scrolls.

Will Horton

Could you talk about Wisp Mothers? Theyre really rare

David Thomas

What if the Blackreach dragon was used to stoke their forges? That might be why the Etherium forge had to be there specifically. Perhaps the forging process of etherium requires dragon's fire?

Hurricane

It's simple. Vulthuryol fell into the cave or perhaps stolen/smuggled when he was still a dragon egg. Dwemer kept the egg for study and ended up keeping him as a guard or infact as an "overlord" for the falmer.

MONSTRR 1523

Vulthyrol is a,"LOTR Desolation of Smaug" Easter egg. Smaug pretty much protects a bunch of gold. Dwemer cities are made of gold like material. Maybe it's that he wants to protect Blackreach.

JACOB WHITAKER

Well aren't the dragon shouts just a dragons way of arguing? And isn't that orb above the debate hall? What if he just freely lived among the dwemer cause he found them to be the best to "debate" with and then he's just been living there since they disappeared until we came along and activated the orb that summoned him for a "debate".

Micheal O'Donnell

I think that there was a dwarven dragonborn that ruled over blackreach. The dwemer used the dragon to rule the city and keep its inhabitants in line. When the dovah needed the dragon all they had to do was shout at the sphere and the dragon would come to the dragonborns call. This can be proven by the fact that only the urelenting force shout can summon the dragon. When u use it on the sphere the dragon must belive that its old master had summoned him. The dragonborn( lets just call them bob) could have used the dragon to force the falmer to obey him. Bob would say that if the falmer disobeyed him and tryied to riot, he would summon the dragon and destroy them all. That is why the dragon will attack the falmer instantly. Bob must be the one who found the black book that the player finds in nychaldark the dwemer ruin. Upon meeting hermaus mora he was given the bend will shout that made the dragon his own. Bob must have repeatedly traveled to solstien to gain the forbidden knowlege of the black books. He probably is the owner of the dwemer helm that you find next to the dwarven black bow of fate. If i remmber there is a blimb that you can find in solstien. If there is no other story behind it i bet it was his mode of transport to get to solstein but in the end the blimb crashed killing him abd ending his rein. I hope you enjoyed my theory and i hope that you can expand on it in a video and figure out any holes in this theory.Yours Truly,Micheal

LJSupe

Skyrims lore fascinates me just like Star Wars

Asher Bryant

3:41 cue sans theme meme

marshrover V

Maybe Vultheryol was sent to Blackreach by Alduin, to act as his representative among the dwemer.

Drop-Kick

What about the "skull dragon" that appears if you attack the tree at the sleeping tree giant camp. He looks like the skeletal dragon but can fly and conjure skeletons to fight for it. I'm sure there is lore behind it but I haven't found any.

Joshua Reed

The dragon was kidnapped as a welpling by the dwemer. The dwemer performed horrible and monstrous tests on the baby dragon, slowly driving it mad. As the dragon became older, it also became much more powerful. One day the dragon was able to break free of its cage and went on a shellfish rampage, destroying everything in sight. The dragon was to powerful to kill, and so the dwemer were forced to trap the dragon in a cage that nothing could escape from. The dwemer lured the dragon to the center of their city where a trap was laid. The dwemer sprung the trap, sealing the dragon away in an rob which could distort time and space. The only way to keep the dragon locked in its new cage was to create a key that could open the cage. They decided, that because no full sized dragon could enter their kingdom, that the key would be a shout in the dragon language, spoken at the orb. As a precaution, the dwemer hung the orb from the ceiling of their kingdom, so no fool that new the words to unlock the cage could say it in the orbs presence.

Tecrev

I'd say that one is a hikikomori and decided to strike a deal with the Dwarves to settle peacefully down there to sleep. There wasn't any indication that you should hit the giant structure and cause that much noise for no reason. Who wouldn't come out raging when someone walked up to their house and started causing a scene?

BrotherBrothersGaming

I believe the Blackreach dragon is a reference to Smaug in The Hobbit, he breathes fire and has bronze scales. The Dwemer are called Dwarves, and Smaug lives in the mountain of the Dwarves.

Paul Grattan

What if the dragon in Blackreach is one of the "good" dragons originally joined with Paarthurnax. After Alduins defeat to the Elder Scroll he swore to guard the scroll wherever it ended up or he is an Alduin ally and swore to protect the scroll to make sure it didnt falling into the hands of those who would use it against Alduin in his return waiting for an enevitable voice master or the dragonborn of prophecy to come for it.

Grug Moment

You can buy a plastic kit of the skeleton dragon, it's pretty neat.

Sean Wisniewski

I would think that as the dragon war was going on some of the dragons would realize that their going to loose and that the dragon in black reach sought asylum with the dwemer and was tricked into guarding it by the dwemer

Bjørn Almlöf

Heyyy vSauce, Michael here

Claudio Moita

Maybe the Blackreach's dragon took a job offer by the Dwemer who were looking for someone with experience in slave management.

Fabien Dussere

We learn with the dragon stuck in the soul cairn that dragons, and so I guess dragonborn can't have their souls taken by deadric princes which I find pretty cool, and makes dragonborns even more powerful

Harrowed One

Vulthuryol is just Smaug.End of story.Also, the Debate Hall Orb is the Arkenstone... maybe.

DoGGyPlays

Funny how they're called dragons, but they're actually wyverns.

Malefactory 0

Considering Thu'um is a lesser form of tonal architecture, I've always been under the impression that by performing the action on the sphere, you might be summoning the dragon from another time or plane.

DCE Productions

"The epic ones like : Durnehviir, Odahviing, Alduin, and Sahrotaar"Either you're part of the Blades, or you definately forgot Paarthurnax.

HCpenguin

What if the dragon in blackreach was born there, like dragons have to come from somewhere. What if long long ago when the ruin was first built, someone brought and raised the dragon to guard the ruins

123qwerty Qwerty

That vulthoryal was killed in the dragon war and then was burried in black reach that would make sense and when Alduin returned he resserucetd him to guard the elder scroll that was in black reach because alduin knew that to learn dragonrend the douvahkin would need the elder scroll

vargen1414

9:15 could’t he have just teleported in to existance through the artificial sun since after all Magnus did the opposite by ripping a hole in existance so i doubt a Dragon and his Dwemer allyies could’t do the opposite of what Magnus did

Robert Barker

Would have loved to hear about the two that pop out from under the ice.

EarthWormBarry

What about the two dragon brothers in the forgotten vale?

Caden Lisio

what if the dragon in the labyrinthian is durnaveir and the skeletons surrounding him were his minions

Kyrst O'Keefe

2:45 That makes the most sense to me.Maybe that dragon got to Blackreach as a baby/younger dragon.

BOY !

Morokai really isnt that great. He only heals 5 hp and restrores a rune. And this ability only activates if you are a Singleton.

B

Saarotar looks like a dragon with Down syndrome

Michael Grinnan Jr

I fus ro dah'd a falmer in black reach ultimately freeing vuutheryal. When long story short it scared the Dovashit out of me

Jish Da Fish

It could have been built around him

Crypticexpert

Perharps Vulthuryol also seeked out the secrets of Aethirium, driven by the same hunger for knowledge and power as the dwarves

Dean Brennan

1 thing its not bromunar its bromjunar

Coal Anthricite

I know this video is moderatly old, but what if the blackreach dragon was brought to the blackreach for Tonal use? the Dwemmer loved fiddling with technology, and making more, so what if the dragon was brought there to try and replicate the language of the dragons. Hence why they were also probably studying the dragon scroll.

chris smith

The night king vs Dragonborn go!

Heavenly Demon

If he is down in blackreath by choice, then I would guess one of two things. He went down because he was like Paarthanex but didn't want to go to war against his kin, or he was an outcast or criminal to his kin and joined up with the Dwemer so that he would have a place to hide.

Sir Billius

Because Aren’s group don’t mention fighting the dragon I like to believe that Shalidor made it where the dragon would only animate when a Dragonborn aspiring Arch Mage approached

Lance Rosebush

Is it just me that thinks he could be brought down there as an egg by the dwemer by some kind of hagrid dwarf or something like that?

1 2

Is it just me or every time I go into a dwemmer ruin it begins to get really nerve racking.

sonicj Polygon

what if the skeletal dragon was konahriik? maybe he managed to turn himself into a dragon?

This Wolf Ish Gay

Well considering the fact that ALL the dragons except Alduin were brought back from the dead by Alduin, one can imagine that maybe what Alduin used to revive the dragons happened to both of those, although maybe the skeletal dragons didn't work properly, thus causing his skeletal appearance

Shell Cracker

My guess is they are just little Easter eggs to add something extra to the game. They have no backstory

Matthew Chirino

If fights between dragons are actually verbal debates, do they often argue about fire and ice magic?

shack-eel- oh-kneel

Maybe the skeleton dragon is the body of the dragon in the soul Carin

Michael Winegardner

The blackreach dragon was imprisoned in the orb

dogclown121

I like to think the 2nd dragon, Vulthuryol, is guarding a dragon egg. It would give sense why he would attack you for using a shout on it, and it would also explain why he's trapped down there to begin with, given the intelligence of dragons. Not sure the lore behind whether or not dragons lay eggs just an opinion that the orb does look like its trapped in the cage and why he would suddenly attack you for shouting at it. But that's just a theory it could just be defending its territory only showing up when the unrelenting force shout is used, especially with a name dark overlord fire, it would sound like another dragon is treading in on its territory thus dominating itself, and why he's down there for this theory is just because its in a dragons nature to rule, the old inhabitants might be gone but since there's still life it could be enough to make it stay and rule the underground land.

scott

Baby dragon.... Had to cage him as he grew.... Maybe time traveling elves grabbed him, took him into the future (ancient Skyrim past) as a trophy

Not Todd Howard

I could see the Dwarves capturing and studying the Blackreach dragon. They wanted to study the metaphysics of the gods right? If you have a piece of Akatosh flying around burning your mine might as well capture and study it.

Dan Olofsson Jacobsen

I see that 13:37 time...

Granola Bar

Every time he says "dragon" take a shot.

Dominick Wood

Maybe he helped the deemed with they're forges? I mean its a possibility, right?

Cursingbow

My favorite part of the throat of the world was at high hrothgar when the peace thing was over.Ulfric went to leave, but I fus ro dahed him all the way down to honningbrew meadery!!